


Pencils

by Diminua



Series: Plain Forms [1]
Category: Red Dwarf
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-05
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-30 05:21:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 674
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5151839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Diminua/pseuds/Diminua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sort of a sequel, exposition, character study (not quite sure what to call it) on the Artist Rimmer I wrote about in an earlier AU. 674 words on Pencils.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pencils

If Lister buys tat Rimmer buys pencils and by 30 years old he must surely have every single sort of lead pencil in existence; 9hs to 9bs, flat red things that have to be cut with a knife, a silver mechanical pencil that probably came in a set with a fountain pen, pencils especially made to sharpen to a lethal looking point that engrave rather than mark paper and pencils that smudge off the page if you run a fingertip over the thick black trail they leave. 

Then there are pencils that flake into strong scented shavings and pencils made of recycled plastic cups, and old school red and black pencils or yellow stripy pencils with a rubber on the end. Even expensive pencil sets in silver or matt black tins. 

On days when he is fed up, bored or simply procrastinating, Rimmer will check every pencil in turn, sharpening those which need to be sharpened and returning each to its allotted placed in the stacked trays and corrugated tins he has for the purpose. 

But the ones he actually uses – the ones which migrate from breast pocket to desktop to the small shelf by his bed and back again and which he pulls out when he wants to jot down a note or capture the arc of a roof on the back of an envelope are of two sorts. These are the soft fat silver ones with the bobbles and the sharp black ones with a red flash and a smooth shaft. 

It’s these two sorts he always has and it’s the second sort he always takes out to fiddle with when he’s nervous, turning them round between his middle and forefinger or even across the middle finger and back through between the middle and ring, flipping up again to catch in the original position. 

Other times, when thinking, he lets the pencil rest loosely between the fore and middle finger and jiggles it rapidly as if intending to drum the table top, but without actually making contact. 

Lately Rimmer’s pencils – not the fancy schmancy ones but the ones he leaves about for use - tend to have teeth marks in as well. Lister might claim he doesn’t have an oral fixation but things do tend to find their way into his mouth – cigarettes obviously but also guitar plectra and bits of wire and – unsurprisingly – Rimmer’s pencils. Mostly the fat ones, which his teeth sink into in a way he obviously really enjoys. 

As with most of Lister’s tics and oddities it’s completely unconscious, like the constant low level musical noises he makes, clicking his tongue and humming and drumming quietly on the edge of the table. Rimmer doesn’t mind those so much though, and even the low rhythmic monotone of Lister singing not quite under his breath is bearable. Lister is more or less tone deaf if he picks up an instrument but he can sing. 

So Rimmer reserves the worst of his ire for the teethmarks on his pencils, and Lister is briefly contrite and sometimes even manages to control the urge for up to half a day, especially if he’s got his own cheap biros to hand to gnaw on. Sooner or later though he will slip, the blunt end of a writing implement edging towards his face as he reads, coming to rest on a plump lower lip, tapping gently, slipping loosely down the smooth curve of his chin and the adorable little cleft he has, then between his lips, just a teasing bite that slides off – not even enough to make a mark on the lacquered surface, before the full frontal attack, where the teeth catch and clamp down. 

This is the stage Rimmer generally waits for before interrupting. Not because he's giving Lister the benefit of the doubt but because up until teeth are used he’s actually sort of fascinated by the interplay of lips and shaft and skin. Not quite fascinated enough to sacrifice his innocent art utensils to it, but pretty intensely fascinated all the same.


End file.
